Southeastern Regional Medical Center has been chosen to receive an Excellence in Patient Care award given by outcomes firm Studer Group®. The hospital will receive the award—which will be presented at the 9th annual What’s Right in Health Care® conference—for its exemplary “medication communication” ratings on the HCAHPS patient survey.

HCAHPS, or Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems, is a national standardized survey tool used to measure adult inpatient perception of the quality of care they receive at a given acute care hospital.

The 27-question survey was created in 2002 by the combined efforts of The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Scores are publicly posted four times a year at www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov.

Studer Group® gives its Excellence in Patient Care awards based on very high scores in each of the HCAHPS categories. Southeastern Regional Medical Center received its award in the “250-499 beds” category for having the best responses to several HCAHPS questions about how well staff members communicated the purpose and side effects of prescribed medications.

The What’s Right in Health Care® conference will take place October 19-21, 2011, in Chicago, Illinois. It is an acclaimed national conference during which the top healthcare organizations in the industry gather to share “best practices” with an audience of their peers.

“When patients receive thorough explanations of the drugs they’re prescribed, they’re more likely to comply with treatment,” explains Quint Studer, founder of Studer Group®. “And they’re more likely to get better faster. That’s why the best hospitals put systems in place to make sure all patients understand the issues surrounding their prescriptions. It’s just one more way the best of the best strive to provide outstanding care to every patient, every time.”